Selling your stuff on Amazon - Part 6- Advice for newbies in first post

soolin

PIP is still getting me down, lady at small PO is very irritated as she knows I am taking my parcels elsewhere and only take the big ones I can't lug into town, into her.

I sent 2 recorded delivery letters the other day, both were standard envelopes with a sheet of paper plus a photocopy (ie two sheets of paper in total) and she made me pay large letter rate as apparently two sheets of paper don't go through the slot for standard letter. The envelope was thinner than a Christmas card and went through easily...
When I queried it she got a bit stroppy and said that the Royal mail will stop all my parcels even if I get them through as large letter in a different PO and my buyers will have to pay a fine of £1 to get them. I pointed out that even the local sorting office take my standard items as large letters, so am not in her good books.

Getting this back on topic, I have been buying lots of stuff recently from Amazon (13 books and counting) andnotice that some sellers ar enow using the corrugated cardboard mailers as these are really thin.

Soo

east2west

Ive thought about doing this as an addition to my existing business, specializing in Chinese are works, but after research it appears that there are so many outlets for this allready.

mishkanorman

Soo,

I would make a complaint, why should you pay more and have extra hassle because some bitter mare on the counter is bullying you !! At my local PO the ladies are great and actually apologise when an item doesnt fit throught the large letter slot. There is no need to make a big drama out of posting things.

Just because you are nice and dont want to make the situation worse doesnt mean she should get away with it !!

phew ....... rant over (cant stand do-gooders-especially when they are wrong :mad: )


mishka

Amazombie

soolin wrote:

When I queried it she got a bit stroppy and said that the Royal mail will stop all my parcels even if I get them through as large letter in a different PO and my buyers will have to pay a fine of £1 to get them. I pointed out that even the local sorting office take my standard items as large letters, so am not in her good books.Soo

Is your local PO a private franchise? If so they need your business as they get commission on every sale. Is the lady the proprietor? If so she should have more sense than to drive your business away.

Its my understanding that it is now the PO's duty to verify every package which they are asked to weigh/size so once the printed label is on the package it wont be checked again by Royal Mail so if your main town centre PO is putting your parcels through as large letter then there is no risk of your customers being penalised.

redcar_2

I had a bit of a 'discussion' with the woman at my local PO yesterday too about the LL and packet debate. The book went through the LL slot although she did need to assist it - not a shove but a gentle push!

To my thinking this can't push it rule is so vague as that means you'd need some clearance so you'd need to be under 25mm to get it through without pushng at all. If thats the case why don't the have the slot so you try to drop your item through?? Sorry if this debate was done a while ago.

I was hunting on the royalmail site to see where the 'mustn't push it' bit is but couldn't find it. PO said she would charge me LL rate (white label not stamps) if I wanted but I would risk my buyer getting a £1 fine if it got checked at another PO. Somewhat reassured by Amazombie's comment but still concerned.

soolin

Amazombie wrote:

Is your local PO a private franchise? If so they need your business as they get commission on every sale. Is the lady the proprietor? If so she should have more sense than to drive your business away.

Its my understanding that it is now the PO's duty to verify every package which they are asked to weigh/size so once the printed label is on the package it wont be checked again by Royal Mail so if your main town centre PO is putting your parcels through as large letter then there is no risk of your customers being penalised.

That's what i thought, as my parcels are accepted by the Royal Mail and at that point they agree to carry them at the price they quote. If a different sorting office later questioend it they would need to take it up with the PO that accepted my item, weighed it and quoted me a price.

I really don't understand what has got into my local lady, we've always got on so well and even exchange Christmas cards, but she will literally only allow me to put the very edge of a parcel into the gauge and unless it then magically falls through on its own, it is refused.

I've been working all morning and just got back from London and now have three books to post (hurrah!) and must decide whether to walk into town in the rain and pay a lower price, or just stump up the extra and go to the local one.

Soo (I've just come home to a porch load of Amazon deliveries!!!!) :T

elona

Soolin

That sounds crazy! Sure you are not meant to "force" the parcel through - that is quite differnt from a gentle push.

juno

I went to the post office yesterday, and where they've put the plastic guide you can't actually push things all the way through unless you never want to see them again. So I push them most of the way, and then pull them back through (bearing in mind jiffy bags have about a cm lip on the edges so I hold that bit).

The post office don't have any problems with this, but there was an old lady who had a go at me (she doesn't work there, and I've never seen her before) because apparently I was doing it wrong, and they obviously didn't fit.

MattOsprey

I have been away from home visiting the inlaws in Antrim.

Typically I have sold 7 books today. Had to get my unwell mother to go to our loft to find books!

Still happy to have sold so many in one day.

No big priced ones but still something.

The addiction carries on!

Matt

becky004

MattOsprey wrote:

I have been away from home visiting the inlaws in Antrim.

Typically I have sold 7 books today. Had to get my unwell mother to go to our loft to find books!

Still happy to have sold so many in one day.

No big priced ones but still something.

The addiction carries on!

Matt

How cruel! I hope you pay her more than the minimum wage!